Sugarless Gum One-shots and Prompts
by Calithe
Summary: This is going to be a compilation of any one-shot prompts I receive from people or any one-shots I think should be thrown into this set. Some may be AU, some may not be. PB x Marceline Rated T because some people have issues with lady lovin'


**Author's** **Note: **So this is going to be a set of one-shots I do for Bubblegum and Marceline. Some of them may be AUs or whatever, but these will most likely be based off of prompts I receive on tumblr or from peeps who message me. I don't know how often I'll update, but once in a blue moon a one-shot might pop up. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy! (For all those following my other fics that are ongoing, I have not given up on them. I just have writer's block for them at the moment.)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of the characters and nothing in this is meant to represent any place or person in real life. I googled the tattoo process, so if I'm wrong about how the whole thing works, I apologize. When I get my first tattoo if I see anything wrong from what I wrote I'll come back and fix this :p

Prompt: Bubblegum goes into a tattoo shop to get her first tattoo, Marceline is the tattoo artist/owner of the shop, they flirt a lot, explain the meanings behind their tats, etc. etc. WOOOOOOH

Okay, so I received this prompt from passion4change on tumblr and I was pleasantly surprised. I just finished my nanowrimo about a week ago… and my nano was about a tattoo artist and a girl who worked at the flower shop next door. I have more motivation to write this than my paper, so I'm going to write this and then get back to my paper :D Thanks for the prompt!

* * *

><p>It was still early in the morning and the street felt dead. There were only two cars in the parking lot, one of them her own, and there wasn't a soul to be seen. She brushed a long strand of pink hair behind her ear and took a deep breath. She walked up to the shop before her and read the sign under her breath, "Ink Bites… Open. Well, I'm here so I might as well go in."<p>

She pushed the door open and the jingling of a bell alerted the only worker in the shop to the customer.

The girl stood patiently while she waited for the person in the back to come to the front. She could hear them rustling around in the back, getting closer. She pushed her hair back again and shifted from one foot to another.

A moment later a woman with a pale complexion poked her head around the corner, black hair cascading towards the ground, stopping maybe two feet from the ground.

"Hey, sorry about the wait, I was just finishing setting up. Do you have an appointment?" she asked with a smile.

She was frozen in place, taking in the sight of the woman before her. She had a canine protruding over her lip when she smiled, and the woman had dark eyes she felt she was being lost to. The low cut tank-top and skintight leather pants weren't helping either. "O-oh, um, yes," she stammered out when she saw the woman cock her head slightly at the prolonged silence. "My name is Bonnibel."

The woman smiled and picked up a notepad, flipping the top sheet back before saying, "Ah, here you are. You came in and talked to Jake yesterday, right?"

"Y-Yes. He's a friend of a friend."

"I see. Well come on back and tell me what you have in mind." She opened the barrier behind the counter to allow Bonnibel into the back. "I'm Marceline, by the way."

"It's a pleasure," the girl responded, stepping into the back area. "And… I'm sorry, I'm a little nervous I guess. This is my first tattoo."

Marceline smiled as she led the girl to her work space. "The first is always the most nerve wracking. Do you have any tattoo idea in mind?" She pointed to the chair in the middle of the room, and Bonnibel took a hesitant seat.

"Well, I was hoping for this…" she held out a sheet with a formula on it.

Marceline furrowed her brow. "What… is this?"

The girl fidgeted in her seat. "It's personal."

"I apologize. So where do you want it?"

"I was thinking on my back, above my shoulder blades and below my neck."

Marceline traced her finger across the girl's back and felt her quiver under the touch, making her smirk slightly. "Right here?" she asked in a low tone.

"Y-Yeah."

"And is this the size you want it?" she asked, gesturing to the scribbles on the paper.

"Yeah. In that writing too. I want it exactly as you see it on that paper."

"Okay, I'll go make the stencil, give me a moment."

She sat nervously in the chair as she waited. It only took a couple of seconds before Marceline reappeared.

"Okay, if you'd move for one moment I'll readjust the chair so you can lay on your stomach." Bonnibel moved out of the way while Marceline adjusted the chair into a flat bench. "Okay, if you'd take your shirt off and lay down on your stomach we can get started."

She nodded hesitantly as she peeled off her shirt and placed it on a chair in the corner of her room. Then she laid down nervously. "Is… is it okay if we talk while you do this? I'm not that good with pain and I'm nervous about this."

Marceline chuckled and said, "Of course."

"Can you explain what you're doing for me..? I like to know the process of things…" she trailed off, wondering if the request was weird or not.

"I take it you're the type that likes to follow directions to the letter?" Marceline asked with a smile.

"Yeah."

"I'm going to use some rubbing alcohol to clean your skin, then I'm going to shave it to be sure there aren't any hairs in the way, and then I'll clean it again, okay?" Bonnibel nodded. "Great." She started to clean the girl's back and asked, "So, you look young, but I'm going to assume you're in your 20's at the least. A college student?"

Bonnibel shivered slightly as the cold liquid touched her skin. "N-no, I graduated grad school several years back. I'm a scientist."

"That explains the tattoo, at least a little, and the fact that you want to know about the process of this whole thing."

"Well… I mainly want to know about the process because I need to talk to someone and have someone talk to me when I'm nervous or things just won't go well," Bonnibel admitted.

"Don't worry, we can talk the entire time."

"Thanks," she sighed in relief.

Marceline finished removing the small hairs and cleaned her back once more. "Okay, I'm going to use some water to moisten your skin and place the stencil on. It'll be a bit cold."

"Okay," she hissed out as the cold water came in contact with her skin. Then she felt warmth as the heat from the tattoo artist's hands went through the gloves as she pressed against the girl's skin.

"Now I'm going to prep my materials, so give me a moment. You want this in black ink, right?"

"Yeah."

Bonnibel watched as Marceline pulled up her hair into a tight bun and started to set up her tattoo machine with the ink caps and to pull out the needles from their packages. Her eyes slowly moved to the woman's arms which both had tattoo sleeves. "Do… do your tattoos have any sort of special meaning behind them?"

Marceline was a little surprised by the question but smirked, "Curious about me, Princess?"

"P-Princess?" she asked in alarm.

The dark haired woman chuckled, "You're rather particular about this, made me think spoiled princess."

She sat up slightly and said, "I am NOT spoiled."

Marceline held up her hands. "Sorry, like I said, made me think spoiled princess, I didn't say that you were. You just don't seem like the type to have put yourself through college paying for it yourself."

"Well that's where you're wrong," Bonnibel huffed. "I DID pay for my schooling. This chemical formula I'm getting tattooed… it's what put me through undergrad and grad school."

Marceline's eyebrows went up. "No need to get your panties in a pretzel."

"What? You're the one who called me a spoiled princess!"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Now you should probably lay back down. You're probably giving me more of a show then you realize."

Bonnibel quickly laid down to cover her chest as her face turned pink.

Marceline was silent for a while before she finally said, "Each one of my tattoos is a reminder of someone who used to be in my life and isn't anymore. Whether they died or left, I have something here that reminds me of them."

Bonnibel had been trying to not look at Marceline, but that drew her attention in.

She pointed to an icicles on her left arm. "This is about someone I saw as a father when mine wasn't around. He's losing his memory and forgot that he raised me for years. Now I'm just someone that comes to visit him. He keeps thinking that I'm his 'princess.'"

"His… princess?"

"He was engaged before I met him, but she disappeared. Eventually he went crazy." She then pointed at a tattoo of a mushroom cloud. "My mom died in an explosion when I was young. I remember very little about her, but I know she sent me away so I could avoid her fate. My dad still never told me exactly what happened to her, and I have a feeling he never will."

"I, I'm so sorry," Bonnibel said with a broken expression on her face.

Marceline smiled softly, "Don't worry about it. You wanted to know, and I figured it might help you relax a little. And besides, not all of my tattoos have a meaning to them. Some of them I just like, but that I don't wear on my sleeves."

Bonnibel cocked her head to the side. "Where are they?"

With a smirked, Marceline said, "You'd have to buy me dinner before I tell you that."

Bonnibel blushed as she understood what the woman was saying, but something pushed her to say, "Alright, how's Saturday night sound?" When she realized what'd come out of her mouth she was about to apologize profusely when Marceline chuckled and said, "It's a date."

She wouldn't go back on something she'd asked, so Bonnibel decided to roll with what she'd just said. If Marceline agreed to go on a date, she would gladly go. She wasn't exactly oblivious to the fact that she knew she'd been staring at the woman and rather attracted to her.

"Alright, I'm going to apply some ointment to your skin and then we'll start. I want you to keep breathing evenly to keep from panicking. Believe me, I've had to deal with that before, and it is not easy to wake up some of the people who pass out."

"I won't pass out," Bonnibel retorted, though she could definitely feel her heart pounding in her chest.

As Marceline began to work on the tattoo Bonnibel tensed up for a moment before relaxing. It didn't hurt as much as she thought it would, and she could help but be relieved.

"So, do I need to give you a play by play of what letter or number I'm on, or no?"

"No, it's okay, I don't need that."

Marceline chuckled, "Alright."

They were only silent for a moment before the pink haired girl said, "I created this formula when I was a senior in high school. It's a main component in cancer cure research. Many believe it may be the key to curing cancer. I can't say for sure if it will help, but companies wanted it, and so I was paid handsomely for it. It may not be saving lives yet… but it saved mine."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm… a foster kid. I was in the system since I was twelve. Even though I was brilliant there was no guarantee I'd ever actually be free of that place… or that I'd be able to afford college, much less graduate school. I was lucky that in high school I had a science teacher who would stay late and let me work in the lab. He was a really nice guy and he said he saw my potential."

"You sure he wasn't just hitting on you?"

Bonnibel rolled her eyes. "He was gay."

"Oh, so a kindred spirit."

Although Marceline couldn't see the girl's face, she could tell the girl had flushed pink again.

"Anyways," the pink haired girl said after gathering herself, "I managed to put myself through school because of this, and now I have a job working at a cancer cure center. I'm helping other scientists figure out the best way to utilize my formula, and I'm meant to continue looking for other possibilities in case this one falls through."

"And they're okay with the pink hair?"

"They wanted me enough that that didn't matter to them."

Marceline smiled, "Well that's good. I'm glad they didn't judge you for your appearance."

"I guess the people here wouldn't judge you for your appearance… they'd probably judge you if you didn't look like this."

The older woman laughed. "True. But then again, I own this place, so I don't think any of my employees would really have a say."

Bonnibel's jaw dropped. "This is… your place?"

"Jake didn't tell you?"

"N-No."

"Well yeah, this is my place. I majored in art and business. I had mainly majored in art because I enjoyed anything related to fine arts, music, art, dance, theater, and so on. I picked business as my second major because I figured that it's good to have in case art didn't work out. Turns out that I found something that would utilize both my majors." She lifted her hand off the girl's skin and then said, "Done."

"What…? Already?" the girl asked a bit surprised.

"It wasn't that huge of a job, and it was all in one color, so yeah," Marceline said with a small smile. "I'm going to clean it up. Do you mind if I take a picture to keep for my records."

"O-oh, yeah, that's fine."

Marceline cleaned it gently before taking a picture while Bonnibel held her hair out of the way. "Do you want me to take one for you as well?"

"Yes please!" She reached into her pocket and pulled out a smartphone.

The artist took a picture and handed the phone back to the girl. "How is it?"

A large grin broke across Bonnibel's face, "It's perfect."

"I'm glad," Marceline smiled. "Now then, I'm going to apply some ointment to keep out bacteria and then I'll bandage it up."

"Okay."

After that was done Marceline pulled a sheet of paper out of a drawer and said, "Here are the instructions for taking care of your tattoo. The number of the shop is at the bottom, so if you need something just call. Oh, wait…" she scribbled something onto the paper and said, "And here's my number in case you need to get a hold of me… that and so you can send me the details for our date later."

Bonnibel's jaw dropped. She had actually managed to forget about that.

"Here, your shirt," Marceline said as she handed it to the girl who pulled it on quickly. "Let's head to the front."

They went to the front to work out the price, Marceline giving her a discount.

"Th-Thank you, for everything," Bonnibel said with a smile.

"No prob, Princess, I'll see you Saturday," she said, throwing a wink at the girl.

Bonnibel couldn't help but smile, "Yeah, I'll see you Saturday."

As she climbed into her car she ended up laughing at the absurdity of the whole situation. Go in for a tattoo, leave with a date. She ran a hand through her hair as she chuckled. "I'll have to thank Finn for telling me about this place later."

She looked back at the shop and saw Marceline smiling and waving in her direction. She hesitantly waved back before she pulled out and drove away.

Little did she know, the one date would turn into two, which would turn into three, and eventually, it would turn out that the princess had found herself a queen.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: ** So what'd you guys think? :D Let me know :D sorry the ending wasn't that great, I'm really bad at ending one-shots :p anyways, I hope you enjoyed and I'd love to hear what you guys think :)


End file.
